This weekend we learned two wildly famous and wealthy people used their power and money for good. Just kidding! Beyoncé and Jay-Z used their fame and fortune to rent out an entire floor of Lenox Hill Hospital, inconveniencing others that also needed access to loved ones and medical attention. The couple were there for the birth of their child, Blue Ivy, and closed off the 4th (VIP pad) and 6th (delivery suite) floors, depending on where Team Carter was at the time. Problem is: they also closed access off to parents who needed to see their own babies in the neonatal intensive-care unit. more ›

When Amy Winehouse died last July, punk icon Patti Smith put pen to paper and wrote a poem for the singer. Now NME reports, via an interview the singer did with Uncut, that she's recorded the song, and it will appear on her upcoming album: more ›

At press time this video only has 304 views, so let's help out these young stars in their search for internet fame (crossing over from the mainstream isn't always easy!). Here are Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt singing "What Are You Doing New Years Eve?" (And before you ask, this is relevant because a new study just came out that proved it is scientifically impossible to harbor even one ounce of hatred towards either of these two.) more ›

Following the controversial song choice ("Lyin' Ass Bitch") for Republican presidential Michele Bachmann's November appearance on Jimmy Fallon recently, The Roots drummer Questlove says he's now "gotta clear a lot of the song choices" with NBC first. Adding, "It's still a comedy show, so they promise not to step on my toes or that type of thing, but they definitely want to know the title of the song, the subject matter of the song, can it be seen as an insult." more ›

Finally, New York City gets its own Hurricane Irene theme song! Check out our new YouTube Hero singing his original sure-to-be hit song, "Hurricane Irene Tracks To New York City." Click play, and sing along to lyrics like: "category 1, category 2, tropical storm, we don't know yet?" Every perfect storm deserves a perfect song, and this one has simply rendered us speechless. more ›

Some kids at Hawthorne Country Day School, which is dedicated to educating children with disabilities, have picked up on the subway etiquette movement and incorporated it into their latest hit: "Get Your Foot Off My Foot." We can all relate! HuffPo notes their inspiration was rooted in frustration, specifically, they "got tired of straphangers scuffing their shoes." Though is it really subway-specific? Videogum boiled it down dealing with the broader issue that "we have all faced at one point or another in our lives, when someone has their foot on your foot, and you want them to get their foot off of your foot. STORIES FROM THE STREETS!" more ›

Just the other day Gwyneth Paltrow joined Twitter and promptly Tweeted that the new Coldplay songs were "genius", as she listened with her kids at their dad's secret New York City show. And now the band has released the first single, titled "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall." It sounds like this: more ›

How did the fist-pumping Jersey Shore cast celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden? We're guessing this song was involved. 50 Cent protege Hot Rod slapped this tune together for release just 24 hours after the news came out. This Is 50 Cent says, "G-Note Records artist Hot Rod wasted no time in getting out a new song celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. Over a thumping club track, Rod implores everyone to get on the dance floor and party." That's just what this historic moment was missing: a thumping club track. more ›

David Byrne has been entangled in a lawsuit against former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who The Talking Heads song "Road to Nowhere" in a web campaign video without permission. Crist, and the production company that made the spot, have now apologized and the case has been settled (the financial terms of the settlement are confidential). Crist has released a (soundtrack-free) video apology (watch below), and Byrne says: more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Here we go again! Bruce Springsteen, barstool musician and voice of the working class, is suing a bar. The Daily News reports that he's the face behind the latest copyright infringement lawsuit. more ›

Last night the Muppet gang visited the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon set, singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with the host (and with the Roots backing them all up). Waldorf and Statler were nowhere to be seen, or heard! more ›

Surely this Halloween will bring every era of Michael Jackson back to life in costume form, but this Long Island City local has put up a scarecrow tribute to the late performer. Apparently he wears two gloves in the afterlife! more ›

You'll recall that the city recently agreed to pay $22,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the NYCLU on behalf of a man who says cops ejected him from Yankee Stadium last summer when he tried to use the bathroom during "God Bless America" in the seventh inning stretch. And the Yankees, as part of the settlement, affirmed that there was no policy restricting fans’ movements. So the Times checked in on Friday night's Yankee game and found that although most fans stayed in their seats during the song, one Rich Popaduke defiantly proceeded to the men's room, declaring, "Freedom is what makes us American!" Why do sports fans with full bladders hate America? A security guard, Nicole Farrell from East New York, opined, "Everybody has free choice. You cannot interfere with that." But at least one fan is here to remind us the freedom to pee freely isn't free; Sue Coster, whose brother is a Gulf war veteran, vowed retribution against anyone exiting during God Bless America: "If they tried to do that in my aisle, I would have stuck out my leg." more ›

Before you lay down some hard earned cash on that Bob Dylan poem, you should probably know a little bit more about it. Like, for instance, that those are actually the words of Canadian country singer Hank Snow. Reuters reports that earlier this week Christie's announced the sale of a Bob Dylan poem believed to have been written in 1957 when he was away at Jewish camp, but they "failed to detect that the words, with a few minor variations, matched those of a song previously recorded by Snow." A reader alerted Reuters of the fact, who then informed the auction house, who announced, "Additional information has come to our attention about the handwritten poem submitted by Bob Dylan to his camp newspaper, written when he was 16, entitled 'Little Buddy.' The words are in fact a revised version of lyrics of a Hank Snow song. This still remains among the earliest known handwritten lyrics of Bob Dylan." The big question here is: did Dylan cop to copying the lyrics back in '57? It certainly wouldn't be the fist time he's lifted some lines. more ›

The McCain/Palin campaign is having zero luck with their song choices. Following Heart, Survivor, the Foo Fighters, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne speaking out against the two-some using their songs, Bon Jovi has now spoken up after their tune "Home" was used at a rally or two. They released the following statement today: "We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past twenty-five years. The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the defacto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities. Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of 'Home.'" Still, probably didn't sting as badly as when Van Halen protested the use of one of their songs being used by the campaign (Palin's son's middle name is Van, as an homage to the band). more ›

Some big news on the off-shore population in NYC: scientists have discovered an impressive amount of whales "only a couple of miles from the Statue of Liberty," the NY Post reports.

"This isn't exactly great real estate for whales," said Dr. Christopher Clark, director of bioacoustics research at Cornell's ornithology lab. "It would be like trying to make a home in the middle of the Long Island Expressway." more ›

Reader Sacha sent us this photo of a cupcake-carrying "cadet corps" spotted on Sunday near Magnolia Bakery. The public display of cupcake affection is part of a site-specific dance performance called Unison Fetish, created by choreographer Sue Hogan as an exploration of the crazy lines outside Magnolia, and what they suggest about the changing neighborhood. According to our tipster, the piece involves several women and one man dancing along Bleecker Street "singing 'god bless magnolia' (to the tune of God bless America). The song also heralded the shopping in the area...ugh." more ›

Last year the Complaint Choir voiced their grievances in Chicago, and yesterday it was New York's turn. Complaints Choir, an internationally acclaimed community art project, was organized by The New Wilderness Foundation in collaboration with the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and the New York-based Finnish Cultural Institute. Meeting at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon at Mehanata Bulgarian Bar, those in attendance had the project explained to them, as videos were shown, and lyrics were created. From the press release:

Participants write down their gripes ­ whether they reflect life's tiny inconveniences, personal angst or cosmic conundrums and together edit their list into a set of lyrics, usually breaking into expert groups focusing on particular subjects. The composer (Alan Licht, whose work combines elements of pop, free jazz and minimalism) then turns those lyrics into a song, with the instruction that it be upbeat, if not downright anthemic. After sufficient rehearsal, the choir performs publicly.